Final answer:
The feud between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson began over their different views of federal power and was exacerbated by political opposition publications. It worsened with Hamilton's active campaigning against Aaron Burr, whose political ambitions clashed with Hamilton's, culminating in a fatal duel that forever marked the severity of their conflict.
Step-by-step explanation:
Conflict between Hamilton and Jefferson
The conflict between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson was sparked by their fundamentally different visions for the United States. Hamilton, who had the ear of President George Washington, believed in a strong federal government involved in the fiscal affairs of the states, whereas Jefferson advocated for more power to be held by the states. The animosity intensified after Jefferson's friend Philip Freneau published the National Gazette to counter the Federalist press, opposing Hamilton's influence.
A noteworthy event that caused the feud to worsen was the duel between Aaron Burr, Jefferson's former vice president, and Hamilton on July 11, 1804. The duel resulted in Hamilton's death, providing a tragic climax to the longstanding personal enmity between Hamilton and Burr. This enmity had begun over a decade earlier when Burr defeated Hamilton's father-in-law for a seat in the Senate. Hamilton's relentless campaign against Burr during Burr's bid for the office of governor of New York precipitated the deadly duel.
The sequence of events that contributed to the escalating feud included a series of political disagreements over how the United States should be governed, with issues such as the role of a national bank, the handling of internal rebellions, and divergent foreign policy approaches leading to the formation of opposing political parties.